He's Just a Kid (Marcus Davenport X OC Book 1)

The Curtains are Open

The trip to school the next morning was probably one of the worst I'd ever had. The news of Marcus's death had already reached everyone because somehow Perry had been notified. How that woman gets information so fast I will never know.

I walked through the halls, trying my best to ignore the stares and whispers. They were all talking about me, about Marcus, about the limp I had from the bullet wound in my side.

But I had nothing to say.

I could still see the boulders crash down on him, crushing his body. The padding of his synthetic skin had been torn away from his hand, revealing the mechanical skeleton underneath. It stuck out of the rubble weakly, as if trying to pull itself out and cling to whatever life it had left. I had held that hand. Hugged that body. Kissed that mouth. And I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Chase wouldn't let me walk around the school by myself. If I stumbled the smallest bit, he would shoot his hand out to catch me. He told me it was just a precaution, but I knew. He still didn't forgive himself for the gunshot wound. It wasn't like he could stop a bullet, but he kept talking about how if he had just been faster he could have used his molecular kinesis to either pull me away or deflect the bullet.

"Abby," he began as we rounded the corner, "when you were on top of Marcus . . . were you going to kill him?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, forcing students to weave around me as I stared at Chase. Had I really looked like I wanted to kill him?

"No," I said finally. "I wasn't going to kill him. I saw a camera in his left eye. I was going to destroy it."

"Why?"

Because it was keeping his last shred of freedom away from him. "Because he had seen you guys use your bionics. I didn't want the footage extracted and sent to the authorities."

"Oh. That makes sense."

He didn't bring up the tears that were streaming down my face when I had gone to take out Marcus's eye. It was probably because he hadn't seen them, since my face was angled downward. The reality of that was I didn't want to hurt Marcus, even though it wouldn't technically be hurting him. The thought of causing him any pain made me super sick and unwell.

I stumbled for a second as we continued down the hall and Chase caught me by my shoulders. I blushed madly, both from embarrassment and being flustered.

"Chase, I'm fine," I insisted.

"You won't be fine unless you let me support you the rest of the way."

I couldn't meet his eyes. I knew why he was doing this. He knew full well I could take myself to class.

I finally managed to look into his milky brown eyes. They were sad with a hint of protectiveness. It wasn't that he needed to help me for my sake. It was that he needed to for his sake. It would make him feel better.

And it's because he likes me.

"Look," he continued. "I don't know what went on between you and him. That's your business and I don't want to know." He pressed himself into me slightly, lowering his voice. "But I'm right here, and you don't have to do this alone. If not for yourself, then do it for me. Please."

The amount of physical restraint it took for me to keep myself from hiding in his arms at that moment was immense. But nevertheless, I complied. I let him hold and support me the rest of the way to class.

Mom was silent, which was a first. She had found out about Adam, Bree and Chase and the fight at Marcus's house because the Davenports had to take me home after getting me stitched up. The look on her face switched from pure rage to fear and concern in a matter of seconds when she saw the red blot on my shirt. I didn't even think it was possible for her to show those emotions.